This just in:

We have been contacted by a fellow Lotus enthusiast from across the pond looking for information on a 1990 Lotus Elan M100 that he has just purchased. So – we’re turning to the smartest people we know!

As mentioned, the car is a 1990 Lotus Elam M100 with chassis number scc100zt1lhd16154 and current registration SBW 649J. It shipped from the factory in British Racing Green and was sent straight to Australia.

From Australia it went to Singapore, before returning to the United Kingdom in 2009. It currently resides in Dartford, Kent in the UK.

Round 2 of 2015’s CSCA sprints was held at Sydney Motorsport Park on the last Sunday of May and was a wonderful way to fend off Sydney’s uncharacteristic cold with Club Lotus Australia camaraderie and hot Lotus engines, tyres and brakes.

‘The Preserve’ is the newsletter of the Council of Motor Clubs. It’s made available to members of CMC-affiliated clubs, and that means you!

The May 2015 edition of the newsletter has been sent out to members and is now available for download. This month’s newsletter features Shannons Sydney Classic news, a tribute to Ken Quarmby, a stunning 100-year-old Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, a brilliant wrap-up and gallery of the National Motoring Heritage Day, and a whole lot more.

Club Lotus Australia members can head to the members page here to download your copy. If you’re not a member of the club head here, and take a browse around the website to see why you should be!

The newsletter is a membership benefit of Club Lotus Australia, and will as such require you to be logged in to your members account. And if you’re not a member yet, what’s up? Hit this link to find out more about the club and why you should become one!

Club Lotus Australia is full of interesting people doing interesting things with interesting cars.

We want to tell their stories, and through this develop and preserve a written history of the club, its members and their cars. So once a month we’re going to share one person’s story with you right here on the Club website!

Trevor Simpson is relatively new to the club, but he’s brought with him an interesting story, some incredible expertise and experience and, of course, some beautiful cars.

Held each year at Sydney Motorsport Park, the Shannons Sydney Classic is a smorgasbord of motoring goodness, and one of the year’s must-see motor events. This year it’s set for Sunday the 16th of August, and we’d love to put together a strong Lotus crew for the event!

With over 1900 veteran and classic vehicles ranging from cars and motorbikes to scooters and fire engines, you are guaranteed to find more than a few items of interest to enjoy on the day.

In particular we would like to encourage entries to the event concours. Ten categories based on year will be contested, with a club allowed one entry into each. If you are interested in getting involved in the concours please get in touch!

We’re back from the Old Dart, to a general sense of chaos in the Roskill household. The cat died while we were gone, so several weeks of mourning are underway – please make sure to wear the black armband if you come visiting. We also lost a duck from the flock, possibly to a neighbour’s dog – which begs the question of what our fierce dog was doing not protecting the house?! And the garden generally (and the garage rather more specifically) were showing the signs of adverse weather that I gather you had while we were away. The garage needed the floor mopping and drying, and the garden looked as though a tornado had been through. Perhaps it had?

Anyway, the good news is that the Eleven is progressing well! Pete Eppel (the same as he with the misspelt name in last edition!) and I took the Elan for a spin up to Springwood at the weekend, and apart from almost getting taken out by a truck who changed lanes on top of us, and a similar incident with a coach on the way back (you’d think I’d learn), all is well in the world of the Eleven and Geoff is making significant and very beautiful headway with the bodywork.

While we were in the UK I managed to fit in visits to Eddie Hopkins, Mike Brotherwood, Vic Thomas, the factory at Hethel and Classic Team Lotus. Photos and some blurb to follow when I have five minutes to get the photos off the camera, but suffice to say I had a ball! Eddie, Mike and Vic were supremely helpful regarding the Eleven, and Neil Lovelock was kind enough to give me a personal guided tour of the factory. Russel Gibbons at the Motorsport facility let me out onto the test track in one of his Elise SCs, and I got to chat to Clive Chapman and Sapphire Whitbread about the success they are having in Historic GP wth the Type 91, the rebuild of Adrian Newey’s Type 49 – and the Elite they are going to campaign this year for the first time. All good!

The usual situation has occurred whenever one returns from holiday – all the stuff that didn’t get done while I was away was waiting to get done on my return. So apologies to all members that we had a somewhat lacklustre General Meeting this month. Next month’s is back on track at Lotus Australia, so I look forward to seeing lots of you there to gaze longingly at the cars we dream about! That’s on Tuesday June 9th, and their address in case you’ve not been there is on the corner of Elizabeth St and Bourke St in Waterloo.

By the time you read this, we will have (hopefully successfully) completed Round 2 of the CSCA Championships, under the ausprices of the Jaguar’s Drivers Club of Australia at SMP. The next round follows shortly behind, on Saturday 27th June at Wakefield; this is then followed the next day by The All British Day (not to be confused with the All British Day at Kings School, which is in August of course!), so anyone looking for a full weekend of motorsport, this is your chance.

From a social point of view, we will be running the second Brunch Run of the year on Sunday 21st June. We will be meeting at 7.30AM in the Sydney Parkcar park, which is accessed next to the chimneys at the bottom of King St on the Princes Highway in St Peters.

If you don’t know where I mean, call me! We will be heading south, ending up with brunch at Shimmer Restaurant and Bar in Gerrigong where one of our number (Simon Kalis) is the sous-chef. Start praying for fine weather so I can get the Elan out.

Shortly after that weekend, on Wednesday July 8th, we will have an Extraordinary General Meeting to be held at the Royal Automobile Club of Australia, in their rooms on Macquarie Street. The speaker on the night will be Tony Caldersmith, who will regale us and the RACA members with tales of his time working at Lotus (and no doubt some other tales to boot!). Parking is free in their car park (off Alfred St at the bottom of Phillip St) if you bring the Lotus, or $25 if you don’t. Bar food and drinks will be available for purchase for between $15-$30 per head. Once parked, head for the 3rd floor, sign in in the lobby and head to the Members Bar, also on 3rd floor.

All these events are on the calendar on the club website www.clublotus.com.au – please make sure you let us know if you want any events adding to it.

Those of you who bought into the first new Club Lotus Australia apparel purchase (the very smart overalls!) will be happy to know they are now here in the country, and may even have found their way to you by the time you read this. I’d like to publicly thank James Chan and Evan Jones for making this happen – it was not easy, but I hope it marks the start of the new way in which we can manage merchandise, so we don’t end up trying (and often failing) to be a clothing retailer! This way we create something special each time, and hopefully start to get greater engagement with you, the members, around what you would like! So if you have a particular idea for the next run, please do drop me a line or collar me or one of the committee when you next see us.

Lotus 2015 looms ever closer (October 2nd-5th), so anyone still dithering about whether to come or not, all I’ll say is please don’t be one of those who says “I wish I’d got organised and come” – if I was paid a dollar for everyone that said that to me after Lotus 2013, I’d have paid for the Eleven by now. The website hasn’t changed – www.lotus2015.com.au – go there, book your place, and then follow the directions to book your accomodation. Then start thinking about how you are going to get you and the family there.

A little further afield, there are plans afoot, co-ordinated by Brian Caldersmith, for the 60th (Diamond Jubilee) celebrations for the Lotus Elite in 2017; at this stage, all you need to do is contact Brian if you want to be kept involved. Drop Seth an email and he’ll put you in touch.

And on the subject of Diamond Jubilees, next year (2016) is that milestone for the Lotus Eleven. We have started planning, and are hoping to get all the Australian cars (12 at the last count) and possibly some from overseas together in one place – possibly Eastern Creek; watch this space, and if you’d like to be involved, let me or Ed Holly know and we will add you into the reckoning!

That’s probably enough from me – and I look forward to seeing you at one or more of the events we have planned. In the meantime, as ever, keep safe, upright, and on the black stuff!

Andy Graham, archivist at Lotus Cars in Hethel, is offering a new service providing Certificates of Provenance for Lotus cars.

Those who take up the service will be provided with a Certificate of Provenance and covering letter that details how your car left Lotus. The certificte will, where available, include the car’s full VIN, model and variant, the original engine and gearbox serial numbers, body and trim colours, options, build date and the original dealer or distributor to which the car was dispatched. This service is available at £40-£50 including postage depending on the information available.

If enough information is available, a more in depth option will be offered for £75 which includes the above information as well as your car’s situation in the build sequence for its market and model along with how many other cars were produced in the same colour and trim combination.

The Certificate of Provenance is available for all models from the 1957 Lotus Seven. All you have to do is provide Andy with proof of ownership, including a copy of your most recent registration paper including VIN, engine number and your name and address.

It’s made from high-grade stainless steel including lasercut flanges. It is argon TIG welded and gas purged for strong, smooth welds which help the gases flow more freely and ultimately produce more power. 2.5” O/D tubes are used to expedite the gases through, further helping power output. FULL stainless steel including flanges, tube and welding wire. Almost 10kg weight saving over the standard Original Equipment system.

Event Details

On Sunday the 2nd of December we will return to Lane Cove National Park for our legendary Christmas party. This time around we will be organising a fabulous food hamper for a picnic lunch.

The club will be subsidising our fabulous feast, making the cost just $24.00 per person. Children’s hampers suitable for kids up to the age of 11 are available and will also be subsidised by the club. To come to the party and ensure your hamper, you will need to do two things:

Email Elliott Nicholls with your name and the names of partners, guests, children and anyone else who would like to join us

We will be holding the 2018 Club Lotus Australia Annual General Meeting on the same day, Sunday the 2nd of December. This is your opportunity to recap the year in the club and have your say in its future direction.

The committee works hard to develop the club and ensure that it’s providing you many great opportunities to connect with fellow Lotus people and enjoy your cars. There are many opportunities for us to improve, and knowing exactly what you would like to see more, or less, of, will help steer us in the right direction. This is an opportunity for you to share your feedback and ideas and shape the Club’s future. We greatly appreciate your contributions, and hope that you will take a moment to be a part of the AGM.

These are always wonderful days, so don’t leave your booking too late! Read on for details on the treats you will find inside your Christmas hamper, and we look forward to celebrating 2018 with you on Sunday the 2nd of December in Lane Cove National Park.

Organizer

Event Details

CARnivale, and with it 2019, is coming up faster than should be possible, and on Australia Day, the 26th of January, 2019, will see us heading to Parramatta Park to [...]

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Event Details

CARnivale, and with it 2019, is coming up faster than should be possible, and on Australia Day, the 26th of January, 2019, will see us heading to Parramatta Park to bring in the new year with the iconic Sydney car show. Registration for the event is now open.

We plan to participate with a Club Lotus Australia display as usual. Registration this year will be handled individually, so of you would like to join us, register online at www.ausdayparramatta.com.au/carnivale.

With the massive CARnivale display and plenty to see and do such as a hot air display, barbecue festival and music, CARnivale is a relaxed way to kick off the new year’s motoring activities and catch up after the holiday break. More members in the display means more mates to spend the day with, so we’d love to see you there!

Read on for the official word from City of Parramatta Council and the Australia Day Council of New South Wales, and we’ll look forward to seeing you on Saturday the 26th of January, 2019!

Australia Day CARnivale 2019

City of Parramatta Council, in collaboration with the Australia Day Council of New South Wales, invites you to register for CARnivale in the Park, which will be held in Parramatta Park on Australia Day, Saturday, 26 January 2019.

CARnivale showcases a magnificent collection of classic vehicles including cars, motorbikes, fire engines, speedway cars and bikes. This will be the fourth year CARnivale has been held in Parramatta Park and the location has proved to be very popular.

Over 70,000 people visited the park on Australia Day in 2018 and the majority of the people came specifically to see CARnivale.

Organisers have made improvements to CARnivale each year based on information gathered from entrants and visitors.

For 2019 organisers are again improving the experience for CARnivale participants by providing more seating and shaded areas and bringing all the vehicles on to the grassed area alongside Old Government House.

In addition to CARnivale, other activities in the park will include a spectacular hot air balloon display from 6am, Australia’s largest Australia Day citizenship ceremony, the Parramatta Big BBQ festival and a family zone with a concert and kids’ rides.

The Australia Day celebrations end with a rock concert on the main stage followed by a fireworks spectacular.

Parramatta Park is close to the air-conditioned Westfield shopping centre and the Parramatta central business district, which offers many restaurants and cafes.

As well there will be free shuttle buses travelling from the park around the Parramatta district.

Organizer

Event Details

It's been a long wait since the magic Lotus 2017 in Victoria, but it's nearly time to [...]

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Event Details

It’s been a long wait since the magic Lotus 2017 in Victoria, but it’s nearly time to get the gang back together for our biennial celebration of all things Lotus. Lotus 2019 will be hosted by Lotus Club Queensland see the national Lotus community gather in the beautiful Sunshine Coast from April 25 to 28 for social events, car runs and motorsport.

The event will be based around the Mantra Mooloolaba, with activities held in the Sunshine Coast, including a concours d’elegance, magic Hinterlands fun run, and speed and happy lap events held at Lakeside Raceway.

Proceedings will open in relaxed Queensland style on Thursday the 25th of August, with drinks on the Mantra Terrace followed by a barbecue welcome dinner.

A track day will be held at Lakeside Raceway on Friday the 26th, with barbecue breakfast and lunch provided. If you’re not feeling so inclined, Friday will be a relaxed day with a lunchtime gathering. After the day’s activities everyone will gather at the Mooloolaba Surf Club for dinner.

Saturday sees the event kick into top gear, with the spectacular show ‘n shine and concours d’elegance held at the Mooloolaba State School Oval. There we’ll enjoy a picnic lunch by the lakeside at the Mooloolaba State School. From lunch we’ll set out on the fun run to explore three optional Hinterland routes, followed by drinks, canapés and dinner at the Mantra.

On Sunday, it will be time to prepare to go our separate ways. The option of a tour of the Bowden’s Museum in Buderim is being explored.

Time

Location

Organizer

Lotus 2019

Lotus 2019 will be hosted by Lotus Club Queensland see the national Lotus community gather in the beautiful Sunshine Coast from April 25 to 28 for social events, car runs and motorsport.

The event will be based around the Mantra Mooloolaba, with activities held in the Sunshine Coast, including a concours d’elegance, magic Hinterlands fun run, and speed and happy lap events held at Lakeside Raceway.